Zero to 102

When I picked up Harrison from the sitter’s this afternoon, he seemed fine. I saw him through the glass on the front door, sitting on a riding toy. He saw me, too, and lit up like Christmas. “Mommy! MY Mommy!” he hollered, practically leaping into my arms as Nana opened the door.

He wanted to “drive,” so I let him sit behind the steering wheel for a few minutes before luring him into his carseat with a Tootsie pop I’d pilfered from the candy basket at my therapist’s office. He was perfectly fine on the ride home, nothing out of the ordinary.

Matt wanted to put H to bed early tonight because of the time change, and I was amenable. So, I cooked dinner. H was clingy, as usual, but I put him to work transferring a half-cup of lentils between two bowls. After he was done with that task, he then swept them up very carefully, one by one, until Matt got home from work.

The two of them went to play in H’s room until dinner was ready. It wasn’t until H sat down in front of his beloved chicken hot dogs that it became apparent that something was wrong. He was whining and moaning, crying to get out of his chair after just a few bites of hot dog. He wanted to sit in my “yap.” “Sit in yap, Mommy. Up.” He refused applesauce, grapes, crackers, his beloved yogurt. He draped himself over my shoulder and moaned. He hasn’t done that since he was about three months old and delirious with a UTI.
I took him back to our bedroom to lie down on the bed. He could barely keep his eyes open. We watched The Simpsons (“No food for you grad students until you grade 3,000 papers!”). I took his temperature: 101.1 (add a degree for under-the-arm readings). It was 6:20, an hour after I’d picked him up from the sitter’s. After his bath, he lay on the bed snuggled up to me, drunkenly singing his “ABCDs” while Matt read some stories. He was asleep within minutes of me putting him to bed.

My poor baby. It’s been two years since he was this sick, and I’m a little freaked out. Also, this would happen the week I have about eleventy jillion deadlines.

2 Comments

jodi

sounds like what arden had, and what’s going around her school. she was fine fine fine in the morning (this was a week ago). she was fine all morning. her teachers said she seemed a bit extra sleepy at lunch (right before nap) and she fell asleep almost instantly, and slept a really long time…and woke up with a 102 fever. I arrived for pickup as they were finishing taking her temp in her armpit. “Mama…I hab a fever…” Pitiful little thing. Owen was out of town (figures) so Arden and I loaded up on cooling treats (ie hibiscus sorbet, which is out of this world, and dairy free–whole foods 365 brand. cheap). And we rented movies. And we went home and snuggled and napped and snuggled and slept. Her fever pretty much broke overnight. I had to keep her home the next day (and cancel class) but I had a completely healthy and happy and bouncing off the walls toddler to chase around all day.

Of course, two days later, I came down with a wicked cold. It seems that happened to a few parents in her class–the kids had a less-than-24-hour fever, then the parents got a full-on cold. Sucks.

boxingoctopus

Yeah, having a sick kid surx. Harry slept straight through for 11 hours last night and woke up chipper and asking for a sandwich. No fever. Hooray! I’m hopeful that this was just a freak thing, but also half-expecting a call from the sitter at some point.